We were part of the large crowd on Saturday and suffering from the heat, decided to stay home and recover Sunday and watch the Nats on Pete’s TV network. Speaking of MASN, did we miss the Washington’s Post annual story about the poor attendance at National Stadium?
We had written a mid-season review but it was so depressing, and resembled one of Kevin’s elementary report cards that we passed. So reaching into the archive vault we have this story of when we visited the Expos in 2001.
We fly into Manchester and head north up to Burlington, VT. Our small rustic hotel is located just below Burlington in Shelburne. Shelburne is the home of the Vermont Teddy Bear factory (a must see) and a world-class museum. The room features two doors. The back door overlooks the woods that are next to the lake.
We check in and after a quick bite, head on to the ballpark. The Vermont Expos (The team plays in the short season NY-Penn League and is composed of young players usually in their first full season of professional baseball. The minor leagues run from Rookie League (R) to A, then to AA and finally AAA before hitting the major leagues) are hosting the Williamsport Crosscutters (Pittsburgh).
After a fast start the Vermont Expos are on an eight game losing streak. Before the game, “Champ” the popular team mascot tries out his hex on the opposing team. Sadly the hex fails and the Cross cutter rip up the Expos in a close match, 3 to 2.
The Expos share their stadium with the University of Vermont. The field is next to the football field, the football stands form the left field wall. Centennial Field is a little bandbox that can seat 4,000. On Independence Day the crowd exceeded that by ten. Parking is very limited so many park at the Hospital
(about four blocks away) and take the free bus.
The little stadium is a gem. The seats are wood and the green paint is slowly peeling. The structure behind home plate is concrete with a covered roof. The Expos pitchers sit in a metal cage behind home plate to chart pitches. They climb a ladder to get up there. Back at the hotel we catch some fireworks celebrating the 4th of July and try to fight off the bugs.
Next morning we fill the car up with gas and then head north to Montreal. The drive from Burlington past St. Albans (site of the northern most Civil War battle) to the border is picturesque. Small lakes, forested hills and mountain meadows dominate. I89 is a modern two lane interstate and we make good time. Once past the border I89 becomes 133, and small family farms and towns replace the mountains.
We have breakfast at Chez Joanne’s in Canada, which is a small diner with a welcome truckers sign (in French of course) out front. We have a good breakfast and are shocked to discover that the bill contains a tax of 13%.
Crossing over into Montreal we hit heavy traffic. Our directions take us west and then east, just above the city, making a large loop since Pare Olympique is located east of Montreal in a residential area. The directions are good and we find the stadium.
Parc Olympique is a domed stadium or “Stade” and home of the 1976 Olympique games. We park in the dark caverns beneath the Stade and are surprised at the number of American cars. The Parc Olympique complex includes a biosphere and a Tourist Center. There is also a tower where tourists can ride an elevator to the top to catch a view of the city. Sadly there is no warmth, no sense of intimacy here. The effect is very sterile and impersonal; it is a
monument to concrete.
Because of road construction we park at the Biosphere and have to make the long walk around the complex since there is only one entrance into the Stade. Here we discover the entrance to the Metro and a small gift store.
Inside you pass through a food court. The young workers are bored and spend their time tossing small rubber balls from one concession stand to the next. We experience an all beef Canadian hot dog (we still don’t know what type of beef they used) and walked into the seating bowl.
We walk down to the Marlins side of the field and strike up a conversation with a young
couple from Massachusetts. They are baseball fans and on a quest to visit each major league ballpark. On their honeymoon they went out to California to visit the parks out there.
The Stade is divided into the blue seats on the lower level and yellow Jetson type seats that form the upper level. A large contingent of guards is in place to prevent fans from sitting in the lower level.
The Jetson seats are uncomfortable but ideal for chair thumping. This novel activity involves placing the foot under the bottom folding chair and repeatedly making it go up and down. This makes for a delightful noise that the locals seem to relish. The seating bowl is dark and dirty. The floor is sticky in places; looking out into the far parts of the stadium it looks dark. Just not a good place to watch a game. No fun here.
The Expos beat up on the Marlins, who are making a run for the playoffs, nine to six, in front of an announced crowd of 5,253. Not much more then the crowd at Burlington. Les Expos explode for six runs in the third thanks to home runs by Lee Stevens and Geoff Blum. The other highlight was watching little cars run out on the field and fire t-shirts into the crowd. The person doing the firing wares some type of Slim-Jim headpiece. They also have dancing ladies on the dugout. They had dancing gals in Provo but no caffeine.
We make our way back to the car and inch our way out of the city. After an hour we clear the town and make our way back home. The U. S. border guard can’t believe that we just went up to see a baseball game.
